Speedtoys

Ya..thats crap to refuse a warranty because you label it 'racing'.

928Int was VERY happy to help me, bent over backwards.

Just I couldn't be W/O, no foul whatsoever.

GregBBRD

I didn't see any production numbers for 2011 Corvettes, but they made over 12,000 in 2010. I'm going to guess that if I was GM and had my very own radiator building plant, we could probably get the price down some....

But, in the meantime....a "long lasting core" is still over $800.00, if you are going to order 20 of them a year.

I could care less what decisions people make and what they pay for parts.

However, I'm a fanatic about quality and I do know what it takes to build/do high quality stuff.

I won't build/sell crap. There's plenty of others out there already doing that.

fraggle

Well my C&R is three years old and OK so far.

hacker-pschorr

Now you did it....you better go out in the garage and check it ASAP

ROG100

When you can get a factory two cooler Behr for $800 why would you ever consider an aluminium one. Just snagged another 10.
Even a Porsche supplied no cooler Behr is $814 and add an external cooler.

Listen to what Greg says.

dr bob

The "racing" one-piece-welded all-aluminum radiators are probably great so long as you don't put them in a running street car. By it's nature, the radiator's going to have more heat on the top right side than on the bottom left side. There's no good way to manage cross-flow paths at different temperatures and coolant flow rates. The airflow temperature, flow and distribution all vary similarly with ambient conditions, speed and fan operation. Add in that "racing" radiators often have more rows of tubes and wider tanks to accommodate. Now, different areas of the radiator are expanding at different rates. So the radiator suffers from wierd and constantly changing expansion and torque stresses while the engine is running and the thermostat is open. Ultimately it's fatigue failure at a weakened joint that typically causes the leaks.

So there's no shame in using somewhat-flexible plastic tanks on radiators, with somewhat-pliable o-ringed joints to the cores. Maybe the one-piece radiator guys could step back and look at similar floating end tanks, as Todd has done, for their heavy-duty aluminum cores.

Ducman82

i have a small fin leak in my stocker, and i had ordered up a alum one and have yet to install it. I'm still trying to figure out what i want to do for fans. are the leaks people are getting from the alum welds? or cracked tubes?

Alan

My C&R leaked after about a year - same symptoms - where core meets side tanks.

I had it cut apart - re-welded - and epoxied for good meaure - it has been fine since - but it sure wasn't cheap - either initially or for the repair.

It works well though - as you'd hope it would!

At the time I installed it (about 5-6 years ago) there were no Behr radiators to be had - and sitting on it for an ~4 week lead time (on my DD) was not an option.

Alan

jeff spahn

Mine appears to be leaking in the same place.

MarkRobinson

I'm using an off-the-shelf Big Block Chevy racing radiator: a few little welds to work with our mounts & it works great. No cooler, but with the race car I have a massive external cooler anyway. Under $200.

Speedtoys

Greg..you sell good stuff. I'll _never_ argue against that.

But Behr makes a billion radiators.


Radiators.



Porsche doesnt have a gold sealed unabtanium...radiator.



Same materials as everybody else's. A Radiator.


A kick *** hand built customer never fail cools like the sub arctic and supports 650Hp in the Sahara...ya..there's HUGE value in that. Undeniably.

But Behr..mass production, army ant productivity...radiators..plastic, some metal, some sealant..radiators.


Very basic design...radiators.

Speedtoys

Roger:

If you had a stack at that price 18mos ago when I needed one, Id've gotten it.

But..it was a money issue...and it was $1,995 -vs- 50% that.

Speedtoys

My guess is thin manual welds where the wire started, or stopped.

Mark Anderson

Seeing as these premature failures are across the board with all manufactures it makes me wonder what Behr does differently. Is it possible that they plate or coat their cores before assembly? We have seen first hand here lots of poorly maintained original radiators that still do not leak after 20 plus years.
The advent of the all aluminum radiators came about when the only option was the factory radiator at nearly $2k. Now that Roger and I have Behr units for less than the aftermarket, that has changed everything.

GregBBRD

Mark and I have talked, at length, about radiators. He's very concerned about quality and longevity of the pieces he sells. It is interesting that virtually every aftermarket all aluminum radiator leaks at the cores. All I can tell everyone is that the people that I talked to about building radiators all had the same thing to say: "Long lasting and quality" is all about how much you are willing to pay for the core.

928 people can say whatever they want about the price of the Behr. They can bitch about the plastic side tanks and the "o-ring" seals. But what Mark is saying is true....how many other cars can you find that have 20 year old radiators still in them?